NFL divisional weekend thread

[heyabbott]

Bill Parcells has said that delay of game is the only penalty in football which is 100 percent the coaches' fault.

Thats funny. As a Giants fan since Tarkenton I can remember a few times Simms had a delay of game penalty t Parcells would vent a rage worthy of a comic book villain.

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

I did a deep dive on it for our football preview magazine a couple of years ago, with our local high school coaches as the focus. It was really interesting to see their reaction. For them, of course, it's second nature after playing and coaching most of their lives, so they'd never really given it much thought until they started talking about it. Then they got pretty fired up about going into the nuances of it.

Another thing that has more nuance to it then you would think is taking the bus. I read once there is like 20-something steps from finding the bus, examining the schedule and paying for the trip. If you’ve never done it before, it can be confusing.

 

[justgladtobehere]

One of the more impressive things I've seen was when the Patriots played the Saints in the Superdome a couple of years ago.
Pats were driving in the last two minutes of the half and they completed a pass in the middle of the field with 13 seconds left and no timeouts, and I think it was fourth down so they couldn't spike it.
Not only did they get the offense off the field and the field goal team on, they snapped the ball with plenty of time to spare (2 or 3 seconds). And of course the field goal was good.

It was like a perfect microcosm of why they're so damn good and you're not. Like you, I can't see the Cowboys pulling that off.

Edit to Add: Found the video of the play. It's peak Patriots, just from the situational awareness and execution of it. And I remembered it being a pass, but it was actually a Brady run and remarkably similar to the Cowboys play. The Patriots had a couple more seconds than the Cowboys did (I think Dak was tackled with about 10 seconds left), but they also had a lot more moving parts than the Cowboys did.

This post reminds of a Pats-Colts playoff game in the 2003 or 2004 season.

Manning went into and out of the shotgun formation and the ball was hiked to James, I think, in a sort of wildcat play. I remember the Colts scored, but the play was called back because it was an illegal formation or something. The Colts radio color guy was BS at the penalty, screaming "They practiced that all week!" Yes, Tony Dungy practiced an illegal play all week.

 

[Batman]

Another thing that has more nuance to it then you would think is taking the bus. I read once there is like 20-something steps from finding the bus, examining the schedule and paying for the trip. If you’ve never done it before, it can be confusing.

I've touched on that a few times in stories but never done the full deep dive. I remember talking to one coach before their preseason jamboree that was on the road, and he mentioned how it's a good dry run not just for the team but the entire operation because they had to go through all of the gameday logistics as well, like loading up equipment, planning where to eat, setting up their communications gear and the sideline, etc.
Another one of our teams was having its stadium and practice field renovated, so they had to practice at the junior high or a nearby city softball field. Even though the softball field is about a quarter-mile away and you can see it from their stadium, they still had to bus there because of traffic and all of the stuff they had to haul. The coach talked about what a pain in the ass it was to load up a bus, take one group of kids over, come back, pick up a second load and take them over, do a third load with all of the equipment, and then do it all again afterward. It added about two hours to each practice.
There's a lot of material you can mine from the logistics of football (or even sports in general). So many things that every team make look easy actually take an insane amount of effort to pull off.

 

[Batman]

The Cowboys have the same amount of postseason wins since 1995 as the Jaguars.

If you start the clock with the 1996 season, after the Cowboys' last Super Bowl win, the Jaguars actually have more (7-4). The Jaguars have also been to three conference championship games and the Cowboys have been to none.
The Panthers also have more than twice as many (9-4), and the Texans are tied with them.

 

[Cosmo]

Washington is in the same boat. Redskins won the Super Bowl in 1992 when I was 15. They've won one playoff game since. It's pretty brutal.

 

[heyabbott]

Another thing that has more nuance to it then you would think is taking the bus. I read once there is like 20-something steps from finding the bus, examining the schedule and paying for the trip. If you’ve never done it before, it can be confusing.

There’s a TikTok video fro an NFL/ player about the logistics of being the visiting team after a game. How long they spend in the locker room, what foods they get, the buses ready to take them to the airport, with police escort. Private TSA screening area, more food at the TSA screening area, boarding the plane, the array of food on the plane. If you live 30 minutes from an NFL stadium, go the game, stay until end, the visiting player maybe land in his home town before you get home..

 

[MileHigh]

There’s a TikTok video fro an NFL/ player about the logistics of being the visiting team after a game. How long they spend in the locker room, what foods they get, the buses ready to take them to the airport, with police escort. Private TSA screening area, more food at the TSA screening area, boarding the plane, the array of food on the plane. If you live 30 minutes from an NFL stadium, go the game, stay until end, the visiting player maybe land in his home town before you get home..

A story was done here not too long ago -- I'll go look for it -- about how the Broncos get from their training facility to the airport and the screening and why do state troopers give them an escort and close off intersections to let the buses through.

I've looked a few times on FlightAware when they are on the road and they're usually wheels up about two hours after the game ends.

 

[Cosmo]

There’s a TikTok video fro an NFL/ player about the logistics of being the visiting team after a game. How long they spend in the locker room, what foods they get, the buses ready to take them to the airport, with police escort. Private TSA screening area, more food at the TSA screening area, boarding the plane, the array of food on the plane. If you live 30 minutes from an NFL stadium, go the game, stay until end, the visiting player maybe land in his home town before you get home..

It's been 20 years, but I flew on the Cardinals' team plane three times for games when I was a reporter in Arizona, back when the team would offer to fly media to games. Only the smaller papers (like ours, which was a PM paper on the weekdays at the time) and the TV and radio people took them up on it. Anyway, I remember covering a game at the Vet in Philly at 11 a.m. MST and I was back in my car in Tempe at 7 p.m. You were on the bus 45 minutes after the game and walked straight from the bus to the plane. Incredibly efficient process. Always boggles my mind how fast the equipment gets broken down and loaded back for travel after games.

 

[MileHigh]

And it's not just NFL. Last year, Colorado could have been a replacement team in the Pac-12 title game. They got their semi on the road toward L.A. just in case USC had to drop out because of COVID (turned out Washington dropped out and was replaced by Oregon). They got to Gallup and turned around.

On the road and up in the air: The wild ride of Colorado's equipment truck

 

[Della9250]

 

[DanOregon]

Worked a visiting team locker room for a Pac-12 game once - found it interesting how the training staff made signs with arrows up for everything - bathroom, trainers room, the field, the showers, the press room. Digital clocks everywhere, schedules everywhere. The layout. Even the coaches dressing room was like an organizational chart. The farther you were from the HC's dressing locker the more likely you were a GA. Starters lockers closest to the front. Second and third teamers furthest from the door. I can only imagine how much "fun" non-conference road games are. They don't have visiting clubhouse assistants in football like they do in the MLB or the NBA do they?

 

[Batman]

Worked a visiting team locker room for a Pac-12 game once - found it interesting how the training staff made signs with arrows up for everything - bathroom, trainers room, the field, the showers, the press room. Digital clocks everywhere, schedules everywhere. The layout. Even the coaches dressing room was like an organizational chart. The farther you were from the HC's dressing locker the more likely you were a GA. Starters lockers closest to the front. Second and third teamers furthest from the door. I can only imagine how much "fun" non-conference road games are. They don't have visiting clubhouse assistants in football like they do in the MLB or the NBA do they?

If I had to guess, I'd guess that the equipment staffs -- at the NFL and major DI level, at least -- work together to see what the other team needs or wants and to lay out the basics like water and towels, make sure the ice machine is full, etc.

 

[MileHigh]

If I had to guess, I'd guess that the equipment staffs -- at the NFL and major DI level, at least -- work together to see what the other team needs or wants and to lay out the basics like water and towels, make sure the ice machine is full, etc.

And as soon as the schedule gets set, the football ops team goes to each away city. Arrange buses from the airport to the hotel. Get the hotel reservations/number of rooms and conference rooms. Food the night before. Breakfast on game day. Buses to the stadium along with timing. Police escorts. Postgame food. Buses to the airport. Buses after landing back home back to school or training facility.

There's is A LOT involved.

 

[User 149557]

 

[outofplace]

Some people have a punchable face. Rudolph a hittable-with-a-helmet face? It doesn't roll off the tongue quite as well, does it?

 

[Huggy]

And as soon as the schedule gets set, the football ops team goes to each away city. Arrange buses from the airport to the hotel. Get the hotel reservations/number of rooms and conference rooms. Food the night before. Breakfast on game day. Buses to the stadium along with timing. Police escorts. Postgame food. Buses to the airport. Buses after landing back home back to school or training facility.

There's is A LOT involved.

I spent 12 years as the assistant general manger of a team in the Ontario Hockey League and one of my many jobs was team services. I booked all the buses, pre and postgame meals, hotels if we needed them, managed border crossings, handled ticket and media requests. We were traveling across Ontario and into Pennsylvania and Michigan, not all across the continent like the major pro teams do but we had traffic and weather to deal with.

There weren't many nights when we wouldn't be on the way home 45 minutes after the last whistle, no time to dawdle with a four-hour ride in bad weather ahead. Somebody mentioned it upthread but we really did help each other on the road and we would repay it at home: forget something, need an equipment repair done after warmup or between periods, need a new restaurant to try in the area? If we could help, we'd do it.

It can be a very thankless job and a guy I know who did team services in the NHL said the same thing, players would ***** if the plane was late leaving due to weather or whatever or if their five-star hotel on the road wasn't as nice as the one the Bruins stayed in.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Why does no one tell Aaron Rodgers to **** up and dribble throw touchdown passes?

 

[heyabbott]

Why does no one tell Aaron Rodgers to **** up and dribble throw touchdown passes?

Because cancel Culture works left to right, not right to left.

But I’ll be bold. STFU A-Ron, wash your hair, throw your ball and stop,pretending you have a ****ing clue. Keep your talents between the white lines.

And while we are at it let’s stop pretending for example that because A-Ron went to Berkeley or Sherman went to Stanford that they are educated.

 

[TigerVols]

Why does no one tell Aaron Rodgers to **** up and dribble throw touchdown passes?

I couldn’t be cheering harder for the Niners this weekend then if the ghosts of Rice, Montana, Clark and Lott were taking the field.